The Photo
by flootzavut
Summary: Tony gives Kate just enough humiliation rope with which to hang herself...


**I haven't given up on Wisdom or Covert Operations - please bear with me. **

**Hope you enjoy this in the meantime! :-)**

* * *

"Wow. Who's the hottie?"

Tony swivels his chair towards her, eyebrows raised, head cocked to one side. "Hottie?"

Kate shrugs, colouring a little. It's not a word she makes a habit of using, and it says something about her mental state that it slipped out, but it's appropriate here. "He's cute."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She looks harder at the picture on the screen, ignoring her lurking headache. Something about him is vaguely familiar. He's in dress blues, and he really is goodlooking. "Is he connected to our case? I feel like I know him from somewhere."

Tony's face twitches a little as if he's suppressing a smirk. "You're messing with me, right?"

She frowns at him. He looks incredulous, and she doesn't know why. If she was less tired, she'd be trying to work it out, but they worked through the last two weekends and she can barely think straight. Friday cannot come soon enough. "Tony, what're you playing at?"

He looks at her for a few more seconds, searching her face for God knows what, then grins. "Nothing, Katie. Just glad you've seen something you like..."

She scowls at him for the nickname. DiNozzo is not allowed to call her that, and he knows it. Usually he wilts when she directs this look at him, but today he just sits there, a smug smile on his lips like he's won the lottery. Clearly, exhaustion has sapped her ability to intimidate. What makes it worse is that she cannot for the life of her figure out why he looks so damn pleased with himself.

The satisfaction on his face is just irritating enough that she snaps. She can admit when she finds a man attractive, it's not like Tony's indiscriminate leering, and she refuses to let him make her feel bad. "DiNozzo, there's a big difference between seeing that someone's attractive and drooling all over them like a hungry dog. Just because I don't lust over every guy I see doesn't mean I'm some untouchable ice queen, but I do have some self control. Unlike you. I don't chase after every guy I think is attractive." She glances back at the picture on the screen, crinkles her brow. "Though in his case..." She didn't mean to say that out loud. He looks like some kind of 50s movie star, and she never gets to meet guys like that in real life. Well, hardly ever. "Seriously, who is that?"

He shakes his head, then looks beyond her. "Hey, Boss, Kate has the hots for-" he gestures at the screen. "Wants to know who it is. Apparently she'd be willing to run after him..."

Kate doesn't turn round. "DiNozzo!" Tony still doesn't look remotely abashed, and that pisses her off quite a bit.

"You'd like a piece of him, huh, Katie?" Gibbs is allowed to use the nickname, though she'd never admit that out loud. She can feel her cheeks flush, and the amused lilt in his voice makes her wary. It's usually a sign of impending disaster. Apparently Gibbs gets a kick out of making her blush, and while sometimes that fact gives her a little frisson of pleasure, right now she wishes he'd revert back to the grumpy old man bit he does so well.

"No! I mean... I don't judge people from appearances, and unlike Special Agent Casanova over there I don't try it on with anything that moves. I was just... He's handsome, OK. Looks like he'll probably be even more handsome in a couple decades. Happy now? So I think the guy's goodlooking, I'm human, it's allowed..." She's getting defensive, muttering as if she has something to hide, which is infuriating. If she weren't so tired, she wouldn't have got into this mess. "Doesn't mean I'm about to jump him." Sometimes she'd just like to shoot the both of them and claim justifiable homicide.

Gibbs chuckles, low and raspy, and she tries to ignore what that sound does to her knees. "Well... I guess I should thank you, Kate."

That's unexpected, and she finally turns to face him, even more confused. He just smirks at her, and after a second she makes a connection, looks back at the screen to check her suspicion and then looks back at him, not wanting to believe it.

"That's you?"

He smirks a little wider, his eyes twinkling, and she realises that's what was so familiar - those startling blue eyes, filled with something even a formal pose for an ID can't entirely disguise. She's wondered before what Gibbs looked like as a young Marine. She's not surprised the answer is "utterly delectable" but she wishes she could've found that out in private.

She feels like her face is on fire, and is glad she can't see herself. She's sure it's not an attractive look. Gibbs is full on grinning now, enjoying her discomfiture. _Bastard_.

"I didn't know, I..." She stops. There's really nothing she can say that's going to make this go away, and the fact that she was right and he does look even better now, a few decades later, only adds to her mortification.

"If you two have finished rooting around in my personnel file, maybe we can get back to the case at hand."

She's grateful for the redirect, and trots obediently back to her desk, flips open the file, wondering all the while if it's actually possible to die of embarrassment. She hopes so, because that's the most likely escape route she's got. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the screen go blank, after Tony receives a particularly violent headslap, and she is (mostly) relieved that the younger version of Gibbs is no longer staring out at her.

A glance at DiNozzo shows he's still got that smug look on his face, and she makes a mental note to start planning appropriate retribution.

Sneaking a look at Gibbs takes a lot more courage and it's a while before she can summon up the nerve and the appropriately casual facial expression. Finally she takes a breath and turns in his direction.

Unexpectedly, he's got his chin resting on his hand and is watching her. His relaxed pose and intent, thoughtful gaze give the impression he's been doing so for quite some time, and she can feel the colour rushing back to her cheeks, but she can't quite bring herself to look away.

He continues looking at her for a few moments, making no attempt to disguise his perusal, then one of those rare untainted smiles slowly breaks over him. There's no snark or self satisfaction on his face now, no humour at her expense, and she swallows. He holds her gaze for a few seconds more, and she still doesn't look away - can't look away. Then his smile widens a little, and he shakes his head slowly as he breaks eye contact and goes back to his work.

Kate breathes again. A few seconds later her computer chimes, and she clicks on the email icon. It's from Gibbs and she can't open it fast enough.

"Thanks, Katie."

She risks another glance in his direction, but now he appears absorbed in whatever he's reading, though he's still smiling.

Tony will probably never let her live this down, and she's sure it was his plan to embarrass her in some way when he put the thing up on the plasma. But if Gibbs is willing to leave it at that - if, as it appears, he's not going to hang it over her at every opportunity - then that's the most important thing.

She settles back into her work, feeling more at ease for a few minutes, until an intrusive thought wrecks her fragile equanimity:

_Why is _that _the most important thing, Kate?_


End file.
